Beautiful in Laos (2)
Ep. Natay
The junction town and the railway station that changed the lives of the people in the community
The main station of the Laos-China Railway has 32 stations, consisting of 22 freight stations and 10 passenger stations. There are five main stations: Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, Nateuy and Boten. Each of these five main stations has its own significance. Vientiane Capital Station is located in the capital city, so it is the busiest station. It is both the starting point and the final destination for many people. Vang Vieng Station takes only 1 hour to travel from Vientiane Station. It is another important destination for nature adventurers and also has beautiful scenery around the station. Luang Prabang Station, an important world heritage city that many people want to come to soak up the atmosphere of a small town on the banks of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, along with its long history and culture. Nateuy Station is a small town different from all the other main stations. But it is a connecting city or “junction” from which you can travel to other important cities such as Muang Sing, Luang Namtha, Boten, Bokeo, Huay Xai, etc. and Boten Station is the end of the Laos-China border. For passengers traveling between countries and continuing on the Mohan-Kunming high-speed rail, travelers can also relax in the atmosphere of the Boten Special Economic Zone, which we will cover next time.
One of the important destinations that the research project wanted to explore this time was the Nateuy Railway Station. The starting point that initiated our trip to Laos was a housing estate that the Lao government had compensated those affected by the land expropriation from the high-speed rail project. As mentioned above, Nateuy Station is a connecting point that can be used to travel to many places. We traveled from Vientiane to Nateuy by train, which took about 3 hours and 45 minutes. If we continue on for another 15 minutes, we will reach Boten Station. When we arrived at the station, we found that the station was very close to the community. It took less than 5 minutes by motorbike to reach our accommodation. The community is small, but it is called two parts: Nateuy Old and Nateuy New, divided by a canal and a group of residents. The old people are like locals who have been living there for a long time. The new people who immigrated here live on the other side of the canal. However, at present, there has been a lot of relocation, including building houses together, so it is no longer possible to clearly separate the old and new groups. In addition to the Lao population, there are also other ethnic groups such as the Khmu, Tai Dam, Tai Lue, and Phu Noi, etc. There are also Chinese people who have immigrated to Nateuy for 10 years.
Although the community itself is small, the main road through the community is wide and in good condition. There are grocery stores and restaurants along the main road. The big restaurants are usually Chinese-owned, and there are many accommodations owned by both Chinese and Laotians. There are separate primary and secondary schools. The atmosphere of the community in the morning and evening is quite different. We noticed that in the evening, the community members often come out to buy food and products, and lottery tickets that are sold on the side of the road. At the train station, we found many teenagers exercising, playing badminton, jogging, and gathering to show off their motorcycle riding techniques. It is a place for young people to sit and chat, and the station building has become our photo area.
For the exploration of the village, which is about 3 kilometers away from the Na Toei community, we asked for help from a teacher at Na Toei School or Ai Saeng (pseudonym) to take us to explore the area this time. Ai Saeng and his son came with a motorbike each to take us to the village on the new road. Ai Saeng’s son explained that both the road and the bridge were built by the Laos-China Railway Project. The road was being improved along the entire route because the original road was cut off by the railway station. Therefore, a new road was built so that cars could travel across it. This road would allow us to travel to Huay Xai, Bo Kaew, and to the north of Thailand, Chiang Khong District, Chiang Rai Province. Therefore, there would always be trucks passing through this route at high speed. We noticed that the road along the route to the village was in relatively good condition, probably because it was a new road that had only been built less than a year ago. However, it would be quite scary at night because there were no lights along the route.
The housing estate is located in the middle of the valley. We parked on the hill before going down to the village, which is considered a point where we can see the whole village. The appearance of the village is similar to a typical housing estate with a fairly large area around it. The red roof contrasts with the white houses arranged in a long row, stacked in many rows. Satellite dishes are installed on every house. There are three long one-story buildings that have been built as schools and the village headman's office. In front of the school building, there is a stone sign showing construction information, stating that this project is a project to help build housing estates affected by the construction of the Laos-China railway. There are also project details showing that the project owners are the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport. Various Chinese companies have come to help manage, design, and supervise the project under the Chinese government's "CHINA AID FOR SHARED FUTURE".
The atmosphere of the village is still like a deserted village with not many people living there. Almost every house that has people living there has been an extension in many houses. Most of the extensions here are kitchen areas, animal keeping areas, firewood storage areas, outdoor bathrooms, etc. There are no trees or electric poles to provide light along the village paths. Ai Saeng's family was one of those affected by the land expropriation, so they got a house in a housing estate. However, we noticed that there were not many residents in this housing estate.
After exploring the housing estate, Ai Saeng took us to see an old house that had been expropriated, which was about 2 kilometers away from the housing estate, less than 50 meters from the railway fence. Ai Saeng’s house was not yet finished. All that remained was to install doors, windows, and paint. When the house was about 70% complete, an official came to inform us that construction had to be stopped because it would be an expropriated area. After that, there were several meetings called for the affected people.
“… If I had known that Na Toey could develop to this extent, I would have saved up money to buy a lot of land,” Ai Saeng said as he took us on a tour of the Na Toey community in the evening. The changes in Na Toey were well explained through Ai Saeng’s words. In Ai Saeng’s view, the Na Toey community changed rapidly after the railway station was built. The price of land increased several times, the original roads were widened, new roads were built to provide convenience, restaurants, and the vacant lots of houses were opened as parking lots for people who wanted to travel to different parts of the country by train. These became important points in increasing economic opportunities, not to mention the new careers that children in the community could earn income and careers. A significant example is that Ai Saeng’s own son works as a security guard for the railway company under the company Frontier Security Services.
On this trip to Na Taey, we found that the emergence of Na Taey Railway Station has transformed Na Taey from a simple junction into a more valuable area. Even a Thai investor like Mr. Wikrom Kromadit has developed the Amata Smart and Eco City project, or an eco-friendly modern city in Na Taey [1].
However, the project has created impacts in many forms: expropriation, relocation, and changes in lifestyle. Along the way of these changes, local people have connected themselves to the train that runs through them, both physically and imaginatively, and have defined the space of the train in new ways. Next time, we will take readers to Boten Railway Station, the last stop of the Laos-China Railway, an important connection point between the two countries, which will be an imaginary connection point according to the name of the area, “Boten Daen Ngan.”
[1] Ukrit Pathamanan. 2022. Where is 'Thai Smart City' in the global context?. Accessed 16 August 2023 from https://www.the101.world/thai-smart-city-and-the-world/.
* This work is part of the research information dissemination activity to the public under the project "Cross-border China Railway: A comparative study of the impact of railway construction projects on communities around main stations in Thailand and Laos", funded by the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO), the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Development,Research and Innovation (PMU-B) for fiscal years 2021 - 2023.
** The research project is currently underway. The published content is part of the data collection and is not a conclusion of the research results.
Panitda Saiyarod
Project Leader
Playfa Namprai
ผู้ช่วยวิจัย
Kesone Kanhalikham
Research Assistant